Please, analyze the origins, internal contradictions, and eventual demise of ‘Arab socialism’ and its ‘presidencies for life’.
Rely on the books of Roger Owen as well as James Gelvin (and Richard Lachmann if you find an angle) and our class discussions. Roger Owen, The Rise and Fall of Arab Presidents for Life. Harvard University Press, 2012. — James Gelvin, The Modern Middle East. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2011
Hints: You can choose to write historically (when did these regimes originate and how did they grow and solidify, etc.) You can relate them to the earlier examples of ‘defensive developmentalism’ and the reforms of Atatürk and Reza-Shah. But you have only 5 pages, remember. There is no space for every Arab republic. Mention empirical examples only to illustrate your key points. Perhaps, it would be easier to build the paper analytically, according to the three sources of social power — military, ideological, economic — and only then illustrate each vector with empirical examples.
Do not forget that a successful political regime must have its sights trained in all directions: domestic (common people in the ‘street’ and various elites) and also foreign (‘imperialist enemies’ and ‘bad’ neighbors or Cold War patrons and allies). Put emphasis on contradictions to make the exposition more dynamic. Politics, remember, is about trade-offs; nothing in this world comes easily, everything has a downside. Quite often, what we do to solve the immediate problems in the tactical short-term horizon, in the longer run becomes a strategic liability.
Format: You must limit your papers to the usual 5 pages, and therefore you must be clear.